The idea is for a team of young Calabrians, technically prepared and in love with their land, who have developed an innovative method for transforming frozen fruit into cubes. The founder and CEO of the Fresco company, Antonio Pagliaro, explains that the suppliers harvest the ripe fruit on the field and, a few hours later, freeze it in IQF (we will see what it is later) at -40 ° C. It arrives on the farm at -18 ° C and is reduced to pulp quickly, maintaining the cold chain.
Then, it is transformed into 10 g cubes. Just add hot water and a smoothie is obtained in 20 seconds. The hot-cold contrast allows to maintain all the organoleptic properties, and therefore all the physical and chemical characteristics of the raw material. No dyes, preservatives or sugars are added.
The stated goal is to help make the consumption of fruit and vegetables (soup sales will start shortly), a healthy habit, reducing preparation times to a minimum.
Little time but healthy aspirations
If it is true that today less than 20 minutes a day are dedicated to cooking, it is equally true that at the same time there is an increasingly widespread desire, even among young people, for healthy nutrition.
Compared to other Europeans, Italians consume more fruit and vegetables. In particular, according to Eurostat (the Statistical Office of the European Union) 85% of Italians eat fruit at least once a day and about 80% consume vegetables every day. Positive but not sufficient fact. The short time is often a bad adviser. The idea of Fresco helps save time. In addition, this technology enhances the supply chains, reducing the waste of fruit and vegetables and overcoming the constraint of seasonality.
The packaging was designed in collaboration with the University of Calabria and a chef partner. The material is a recyclable plastic.
The freezing technique is, as mentioned, in IQF (acronym for Individually Quick Frozen, “Individually frozen”). The process cools the individual ingredients of a food product quickly bringing them to the frozen state separated from each other. This allows you to pick up only the amount of items you need.
Paola Chessa Pietroboni
